[mythtv-users] Increasing recording time

[Kendric Beachey]

On Thu, 23 Sep 2004 15:39:51 -0400, David Levine
<curiouskangaroo at gmail.com> wrote:
> It's my understanding that Tivo only does this when the schedule is
> changed far enough in advance.

Well, you have to do it before the allotted time for the recording
ends.  :-)  But I have successfully performed this maneuver with less
than two minutes to go before the recording was scheduled to stop.  I
don't know; maybe there is a drop-dead point a few seconds before the
recording actually ends?

> Also, as far as the potential feature being discussed here goes, I've
> been picturing it something like a function you could hit while the
> recording is underway (key on keyboard or remote) that would
> automatically push the end-time for the recording back by 30 minutes.
> You keep hitting it every time you want to extend it.  If you know the
> thing is going to run an hour long, hit it twice and forget about it.
> If you're not sure, hit it once each time there's just a few minutes
> left on the recording but it looks like it's still running long.

This would be a much easier way to do this, from a user standpoint. 
That two-minute drill I mentioned above was accomplished with much
nervous button-pushing and hopes that there wouldn't be some lag in
the menu system (it happens from time to time).  I definitely vote for
your way.

I bet if Myth implements such a feature, TiVo will copy it sometime
down the road.  Then we'll know for sure who's leading the way.  ;-) 
(disclaimer:  I only have a Series 1 TiVo, and don't know if Series 2
boxes already do this.)

Here's another thing to consider:  most of the time when I think I'm
going to need to do this, time is almost up on the recording, but I am
still 25 minutes behind real time.  So for all I know, maybe the game
really did end on time, but I can't know for sure unless I break out
of the recording and go and check live TV really quick.  It would be
essentially the same problem with any PVR system.

Maybe Myth could get some kind of "peek at the end" feature where you
activate a keyboard sequence and it puts a bookmark in the recording
at the place where you are watching, plays 10 seconds of what's being
recorded right now, and then jumps back to the bookmark to resume? 
You might end up peeking during a commercial, so maybe the peek would
need to be rewindable so you could back up to before the commercial
and see if the game's still on.

For maximum sports fan acceptance, such a peek would only play the
middle 60% or so of the picture, to avoid accidentally showing the
score.  :-)
--
Kendric Beachey